The invention relates to a sealing device consisting of
two contiguous construction elements made of concrete, steel reinforced concrete, cast iron or other materials (for example synthetic resins), as well as a shaped sealing element made of an elastomer material (i.e. rubber or a material similar to rubber), which is inserted into a recess and bridges the gab between the construction elements in a sealing manner;
whereby the construction elements are in particular segments that are assembled to form a tube-like tunnel in such a way that transverse and longitudinal joints are formed, whereby each segment is provided with a recess extending all around the joined sides of the segment, and comprising two outer flanks and a base side, specifically in conjunction with the formation of a sealing frame with frame corners, whereby the shaped sealing element is provided with open and/or closed fluted grooves extending in the form of a strand, said fluted grooves being arranged on the base side of the section, as well as with channels also extending in the form of strands, said channels being arranged between the fluted grooves and the face side of the section.
A sealing device of the type specified above is known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,309. Due to the fact that the construction elements or segments joining one another are compressed in conjunction with a reduction of the spacing of the gap or the transverse and longitudinal joints, the sealing section made of elastomer material unfolds its sealing effect as a result of the interaction occurring between the force and the reactive force. Such compression sealing devices have been successfully employed in connection with numerous tunnel projects.
Now, based on the prior art described above, the problem of the invention is to provide a sealing device that is suitable for a permanent sealing effect in particular in the presence of major displacements of the construction elements or segments joined with each other.
Now, said problem is solved in that
the recess has within the center zone of its base side a support for the shaped sealing element that extends in the direction of the jointed side and also extends in the form of a strand, specifically in conjunction with the formation of two recesses that extend parallel with each other, whereby each recess comprises an outer flank, an inner flank and a base side, and whereby, furthermore, a shaped body is located in each recess, whereby said two shaped bodies in turn are connected with each other by means of a shaped body located above the support, said shaped body having a different geometry as compared to the one of the other two shaped bodies, namely with respect to the direction of the strand over the entire length of the shaped body.
The useful embodiments of the sealing device as defined by the invention are described as follows:
The two recesses extending parallel with each other are arranged mirror-symmetrically.
The face side of the support is situated lower than the joined side of the construction element or segment, namely in conjunction with the formation of a recess on the face side.
The two shaped bodies located in the parallel extending recesses are identical with respect to their geometry, whereby, furthermore, a total of three shaped bodies form a one-piece overall composite, specifically preferably in conjunction with the formation of a common plane face side of the shaped sealing element.
It is advantageous, furthermore, if a fluted groove and/or two fluted grooves are present within the three shaped bodies.
The outer and inner flanks of the two parallel extending recesses extend in a slanted way, specifically in conjunction with a widening of the two recesses toward the joint side of the construction element or segment.
The cross sectional area of the support is smaller than the cross sectional area of the entire recess, the latter being formed by the two parallel a extending recesses as well as, if need be, the recess on the face side. In particular, the cross sectional area of the support is again smaller than the cross section area of each of the two parallel extending recesses.
The support completely extends around the construction element or segment.
All constructional design features of the sealing device mentioned herein within the framework of the claims are related to the relieved condition of the device.